CHE Seminar Series: Social Interactions and Private Health Insurance Demand: Insights from linked employer-employee data
We use unique employee-employer data from Australia to examine the effect of co-worker health condition on the demand for private health insurance. Our setting is well suited to this research question due to the institutional environment (e.g., community rated premiums, small firm sizes) and the quality of the administrative data we use, which allows us to link individual level tax data with healthcare utilization and firm level data. Our identification strategy exploits data over two consecutive financial years, allowing us to analyze transitions into and out of private health insurance, as well as to control for the initial insurance status of co-workers. We find consistent evidence that negative health shocks to co-workers increase the demand for insurance among those who do not already have it. We also find that females, those who do not have a spouse, and older individuals tend to be more responsive to co-worker health, and that more severe or frequent health shocks to co-workers have a stronger impact on insurance demand.
Speaker profile
Ali Furkan Kalay is a Research Fellow at the Macquarie University Centre for Health Economy. He recently earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Queensland in April 2024. Kalay's work in health economics and econometrics aims to leverage large datasets and state-of-the-art statistical models. His research utilizes social media, geographical data, and administrative data to inform health policy. Currently, Kalay is engaged in projects using Australian Bureau of Statistics products, such as the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA) and the Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment (BLADE), to drive data-informed health policy research.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.
Event Details
- Date:
- 4 September 2024 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
- Venue:
- Caulfield campus, Building H, Level 9, Room H914
- Categories:
- CHE Seminar; General
Description
We use unique employee-employer data from Australia to examine the effect of co-worker health condition on the demand for private health insurance. Our setting is well suited to this research question due to the institutional environment (e.g., community rated premiums, small firm sizes) and the quality of the administrative data we use, which allows us to link individual level tax data with healthcare utilization and firm level data. Our identification strategy exploits data over two consecutive financial years, allowing us to analyze transitions into and out of private health insurance, as well as to control for the initial insurance status of co-workers. We find consistent evidence that negative health shocks to co-workers increase the demand for insurance among those who do not already have it. We also find that females, those who do not have a spouse, and older individuals tend to be more responsive to co-worker health, and that more severe or frequent health shocks to co-workers have a stronger impact on insurance demand.
Speaker profile
Ali Furkan Kalay is a Research Fellow at the Macquarie University Centre for Health Economy. He recently earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Queensland in April 2024. Kalay's work in health economics and econometrics aims to leverage large datasets and state-of-the-art statistical models. His research utilizes social media, geographical data, and administrative data to inform health policy. Currently, Kalay is engaged in projects using Australian Bureau of Statistics products, such as the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA) and the Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment (BLADE), to drive data-informed health policy research.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.